Book Blurb of the Year

Cake of the Year

Mr. Wuffles cake at Brook Forest Elementary

School librarian John Schumacher always rolls out the red carpet for author visits. The frosting covered, edible kind of red carpet. This cake to celebrate David Wiesner’s visit really captures the book.

Picture Book Type of the Year

Wordless

Wordless books were all over the place in 2013.

Children’s Literature Headline of the Year

One-Legged Parakeet Rescued from Hoarder’s Home Inspires Kids’ Book

I’m not sure how R. Kelly ended up as the image for this article when it came up in my newsfeed, but I think that detail takes it to the next level.

Best Children’s Lit Graffiti

The Pigeon Was Here

Mo Willems likes messing around. I like that he likes messing around. His addition to this plaque celebrating a visit from the Queen of England is but one piece of evidence.

Picture Book Mode of Transportation of the Year

Train

Trains saw a revival in 2013, with Locomotive, Train, Steam Train, Dream Train, and How to Train a Train all being released.

Book I Didn’t See Coming But Should Have

Biography of Psy

The Korean pop star had a big year. That year was 2012.

Illustration Style That’s Going Strong

Flat and matte

High gloss has been running for the hills for a couple years now, but in 2013 it was harder to find than ever. And flat illustrations are the hippest thing going.

YA Cover Title Trend

Hand-written

YA can be an intensely personal genre, so the idea of a title scrawled by hand is a perfect fit. I have to say, I’m a fan.

Picture Book Paper Trend of the Year

Au Naturel

It seemed like picture books far and wide were embracing all forms of raw, unbleached, and paper bag-ish papers.

Best Cover Update

The new paperback Harry Potter covers by Kazu Kibuishi

For the 15th anniversary of the series, Scholastic gave the Harry Potter covers a nice update.

Best Dedication (YA Edition)

The Axl Rose Award

Giant Dance Party by Betsy Bird; illustrated by Brandon Dorman

Rumor has it that one time Axl Rose decided he was going to confuse everyone by doing just one video with full-on Aquanet Hair Metal hair, and then never do it again. The cupcake on the cover of Giant Dance Party is like the Axl Rose Hair Metal hair of picture book cover cupcakes. Never seen again.

Name That Keeps Going Strong

The “Good Idea” Award

I think we all let out a collective “Of course!” when we saw this on the shelf. A perfect candidate for colorization.

The “Nice Try” Award

Back to the Wild, an unauthorized Where the Wild Things Are sequel on Kickstarter

In the words of Liz Lemon, “Shut it down”.

Best Smelling

Chews Your Destiny (Gum Girl #1) by Rhode Montijo

It’s a shame that libraries will be covering up this bubble gum scented scratch and sniff cover.

Book Jacket That Was Hiding Something (First Place)

Doughnut on Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Book Jacket That Was Hiding Something (Second Place)

Whale on If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano; illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Book Jacket That Was Hiding Something (Third Place)

Textured tiger print for Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Book That Should Be Turned Into a Play A.S.A.P.

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

Few characters, a minimum of location changes, scintillating dialog – is it just me, or would this book make an incredible transition to the stage?

Best Song

Take Me Out for Some Bowling (to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game) from Blowing Alley Bandit (The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut #1) by Laurie Keller

I maintain that bowling is our most underrated pastime. It’s always fun. The only thing it’s missing is an anthem. Leave it to Arnie the Doughnut to change the words to the song about our national pastime into something that will have readers singing along at the lanes.

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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About 100 Scope Notes

Children's literature news, reviews and assorted school librarian oddities. Combine one part kid's books, one part school librarianship, a splash of absurdity and you get 100 Scope Notes.

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com. He's also on...